COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE BY ALEXANDRA SIMS IN THE
INDEPENDENT
"Naz Shah
readmitted to Labour party following anti-Semitism row"
As well she should be.
The 'anti-Semitism row' is one of the more shameful events
in recent British history.
This whole thing was an ugly wave of McCarthyism employed in
a shabby effort to destroy Jeremy Corbyn and his leadership, full stop.
It was led off by the now appropriately-disgraced David
Cameron. It was pushed along by disloyal party members like Hilary Benn. And it
was kept fired up by much of the press, including The Independent and The
Guardian, a paper once regarded as liberal-minded and progressive.
The simple fact is if you check Israeli sources, you can
easily see the government of Israel hates Corbyn. They do not like any
independent-minded leader, much less one who is largely anti-war.
That fact automatically triggers a chorus from Israel's
apologists abroad and those who insist that it is right even when it is dead
wrong, as it frequently is.
Part of that chorus clearly includes a great deal of the
press, and as a person who follows some news and political events closely, I
can say I have never since childhood (I grew up in the US in the Cold War) seen
such deeply biased and almost embarrassing coverage.
Check on the Internet for old clips of the dangerous Sen.
Joseph McCarthy at his height - who was by the way in private a violent drunk
who simply needed to fire up a flagging political career - and you will see
similar charges and behavior.
For a considerable period of time, that hideous man's
drunken lies, all intended merely to further his ugly career, made the whole
United States tremble. There were remarkably few prominent Americans who dared
to stand against him.
At the same time there were lines of people shamelessly
supporting him and working hard to destroy the careers of prominent, decent
people. This was especially notable in Hollywood and in government, at the
State Department. The press for the most part joined the noisy shouts.
Britain's event was not as extreme, but it was frightening
for all fair-minded observers, and there are still echoes of it in the press.
Nothing Naz Shah did was in the least
"anti-Semitic." Nothing. And exactly the same for others accused,
including Ken Livingston.
What is perhaps not appreciated by Israel's more ferocious
and single-minded apologists is that the tactic of always and invariably
calling anyone "anti-Semitic" who is the least critical of Israel
gradually turns the expression into empty words, drained of all meaning.
The old fairy tale about the boy who cried "wolf!"
over and over again falsely just to see the effect on people and who was
finally ignored by everyone when a real wolf approached applies perfectly here.
I believe we all recognize genuine hate where it exists. We
don't need to be told by others, and especially by others who are being either
dishonest or irresponsible.
Not one bit of genuine anti-Semitism was involved here, but
there was sure plenty of name-calling and libel and huff-and-puff over nothing.
Extremely disappointing, the whole affair.
